I smell a rat: New York City dogs hunt hated rodents

Susan Friedenberg of New York takes a rat from Tanner, her border terrier, in lower Manhattan on April 26.

By Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Bodies tense and noses twitching, the dogs sniff the fertile hunting ground before them: a lower Manhattan alley, grimy, dim and perfect for rats. With a terse command — "Now!" — the chase is on.

Known with a chuckle as the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society — parse the acronym — the rodent-hunters have been scouring downtown byways for more than a decade, meeting weekly when weather allows. Read full story

Craig Ruttle / AP

A group of dog owners gather in a lower Manhattan park April 26 before a hunt for rats that takes their various breeds into New York City alleys. Participants say the hunts are less about killing rats than giving dogs the experience of chasing them.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A dog named Paco, owned by Bill Reyna of Wayne, N.J., looks over a dead rat in a lower Manhattan alley on April 26.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A wire-haired dachshund named Vina, owned by Trudy Kawami of New York, carries a rat after catching it in a lower Manhattan alley on April 26.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A number of rats are displayed in a lower Manhattan alley, caught and killed by small hunting dogs, on April 26.